Local utilities are deploying smart technology to help mid-Missouri’s energy grid respond faster to potential problems.
Ameren Missouri has been adding smart devices onto the grid in cities such as Boonville, Moberly and Jefferson City.
The technology, called “smart switches,” can detect faults, which helps prevent power outages and also assist in restoring power when one occurs.
Jason Haynam, director of Ameren’s Central Missouri operations, said the smart devices helped ease workers’ burden after storms rolled through in early March.
“We had approximately 1,300 outages at peak, and approximately 250 of those were restored by the smart switches in Boonville,” Haynam said. “In the meantime, we rolled crews to get the rest of our restorations done throughout that day.”
Smart grid technologies can be attached to power lines and electric infrastructure above or below ground. They detect threats to the system, such as a tree limb hitting a power line.
“Our smart grids devices, they've been really game changers for customers. They automatically reduce outage impacts, and they keep the power on for more people after a storm,” Haynam said.
Smart switches can reroute power around an area of the grid facing an issue, keeping the lights on for as many people as possible, Ameren spokesperson Cassidy Moody said.
Taesic Kim researches the energy grid as a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Missouri. He said there is an urgent need to modernize the power grid due to increasing electricity demand, but building new transmission lines can take time and face setbacks.
“By using some advanced technology, we can also improve the capacity of the transmission line,” Kim said.
Blackouts are a threat for residential customers but also for local economies and critical infrastructure, Kim said. He hopes policymakers can accelerate utility adoption of smart grid technology.
“We need more technology to be included to make a more resilient power grid.” Kim said.
Ameren has worked to update Jefferson City’s power grid into what’s called a “smart grid” since 2019. The company has installed 12 “smart switches” to the downtown electric grid that serves multiple state buildings, including the Capitol, and more on overhead power lines throughout the city.
Jefferson City Regional Economic Partnership President Luke Holtschneider said these infrastructure upgrades are essential to the community’s economic development.
“In order to compete and to be a viable option for that new industry or an expansion of an existing industry, you have to be a community that can support that,” Holtschneider said.
Holtschneider said a reliable power supply is among the mix of qualities companies looking to grow or invest in a community are looking for, and he wants Jefferson City to be an attractive option.
“What we're trying to achieve is to become the least-risky location for somebody that's looking to invest or grow or locate,” he said.
The company added nine smart switches to the grid in Moberly and 350 through central Missouri. The utility has installed more than 2,000 smart devices to the grid across the state, which Ameren attributed to preventing more than 330,000 outages during major storms.
